


You Need to Let Go

by TwilightRealmWolf



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Established Relationship, F/M, Pre-Achievement Hunter Ray, Reader-Insert, Some Fluff, Sorry Not Sorry, slight mentions of animal death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-10
Updated: 2014-08-10
Packaged: 2018-02-12 13:14:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2111247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwilightRealmWolf/pseuds/TwilightRealmWolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Happy twenty-fourth fucking birthday to me..." you say, voice shaking and tapering off softly as you sat on your floor, knees to your chest and computer open. Two windows were open on your computer, one being an email from him, and the next being your new personal hell on Earth:</p><p> </p><p>Achievement Hunter</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Need to Let Go

**Author's Note:**

> So, yeah, I wrote this over a period of like 2 months. I'm sorry this took so long to come out, I've just had such a hard time getting motivation to do anything recently. But I'm back to feeling good, so I'm back for now! Stuff to look for at the end.

"Happy twenty-fourth fucking birthday to me..." you say, voice shaking and tapering off softly as you sat on your floor, knees to your chest and computer open. Two windows were open on your computer, one being an email from _him,_ and the next being your new personal hell on Earth:

_Achievement Hunter_

         Flash back to two months prior. You'd be sat in your bed, staring up at the ceiling, thinking about him, everything that had gone right, everything that had gone wrong. You'd be thinking about how he's changed you for the better, some for the worst. Though, just as you would get swamped into the depths of your thoughts and doubts, you'd feel a body stir next to you, the comforter moving over, the fabric cascading over your smooth skin. The sound of slow breathing would fill the room, a certain pattern to the slow in and out of his breaths that you could feel on the back of your neck. You could always tell when he was deep in sleep next to you, especially when his arms would attempt to curl you closer and his fingers would twitch on your stomach, sending tingles up your spine with every movement. You always wondered what he was thinking about in each and every moment of his dream, for sometimes he was smiling and in others, he was frowning, squinting his eyes tightly shut as if to block out an unwelcome visitor from his subconscious.

You had made a habit out of watching him in his deep sleep, seeming that you could never sleep in the evenings anyway. Insomnia seemed to have been getting the best of you recently, given the fact that there was always something on your mind that kept you just far enough from the edge of sleep that you never got pushed over said edge. There was always the constant worries of money, finding a job, the fact that the pair of you were looking into finally getting out of your tiny apartment and into an actual house. Though, every plan was bound to have a bump or jolt in the road. For you, it had been losing your job after three years of blood, sweat and tears in the hell that was being a secretary in a large New York office complex. Even after three years, you hadn't moved up an inch, and the one time you built up the courage to ask why, you weren't met by an answer, but rather a hastily fired off "solution" by your boss.

"The ungrateful make it nowhere in this world. You will take what you're given and say nothing about getting more, not one word. Now get out of my sight, out of these doors," he pointed behind him to the rotating glass doors as he yelled, drawing an obscene amount of attention to the pair of you, "and take your stupid excuse of a respectable woman with you." He stormed away, slamming on the elevator buttons to take him back to his high throne of an office, leaving you to stare down at your former desk as tears spilled over from the threshold of your eyes, landing with a silent splash on the surface. You kept your eyes down, knowing that there were many eyes on you, judging you or pitying you, neither of which you wanted. After moments of tears and ragged breaths, which had gone unheard by the hustle and bustle of the floor, you stood up, a shaky hand laid flat on the desk surface as you brought yourself up to your feet. You inhale deeply and shakily, the tears continuing to free fall down the length of your face, from your tear ducts, rolling over your cheekbones, cascading down the surface of your cheek then onto the desk. You watched as they landed, one after another, plop plop plop, minescule droplets splashing from the sides of each defined puddle.

You slowly tilted your head back up, glancing out the window and the rotating glass doors. Some people glanced back, shooting looks of pity, confusion, or absolutely painful heart-shattering glares of hostility. The environment of New York is rough, and you had known that ever since you had decided to pick up your small town life and move what little it had inside of it to New York City. What was waiting for you there, you could never have guessed. You truly hadn’t known why you were leaving, or what you were moving towards, but none of it mattered at the time. Something had felt right, and you knew it, you just weren’t sure of what. Though, once you had settled in, you had the gut feeling that something big was going to happen, something that would change your life for the better. Sure, this job hadn’t seemed like perfection from the outside, but it truly was.

You turn around, looking at the chair that had been deemed yours ever since you had been accepted into the elite field that was secretary work in this city, and you remembered the very first time you had sat on its not so comfortable surface, wearing nothing but a professional dress and the brightest smile. It was that day when a thought had crossed your mind, a mere thought of “I could live like this forever.”

As you think back on it, you laugh bitterly, an expression of pure disgust on your face as you kick the chair weakly out of your way. You thought about how stupid you had once been, how naive and how small.

“Nothing lasts forever, (y/n),” You mutter to yourself sourly as you continue to glare holes into the seat, “you know that. You need to let go.”

With that, you reached out for your laptop bag, which also doubled as your purse, a blue messenger bag with the text “Caboose” written on the front. You angrily shoved your things inside of it, ripping the ponytail and bobby pins from your well manicured hair, leaving it disheveled, and stuffed the items into the bag. You threw it over your shoulder without haste, kicking the chair once more as you stepped away from the comfort behind the guarded desk. You never were one for tantrums, but they surfaced on occasion when you became livid, rage seeping through your pores. You walked forward, towards the rotating doors and told yourself not to look back.

“Looking back just reminds you of what you have lost.” Your mother had once told you as the pair of you walked away from the veterinary office, both of you walking hand in hand, struggling not to bring up the animals name while the dark cloud of fond memories that were once had between the three of you hung over you both, the weight of a thousand tons on your shoulders. “The past will remain in the past. The past doesn’t define who you are...it just sets the path for who you’re going to be.”

Her words stung to the young ears you had possessed, your mind whirring as it sunk in. Though, you had looked back anyway, seeing the grim faces of the doctors as they watched the table briefly, only to sigh and place a blanket over the top of the once living soul. You knew it was for the best, but your heart shattered into a million pieces as you watched, a pained whimper escaping your lips. You snapped your head back around to face forwards, your mother’s words still echoing in your mind, along with the scene which had played out in front of you not even thirty seconds prior. Your chest burned, aching for relief as the tears stung your eyes. Your legs became weak beneath you, sending you to the rough ground of the asphalt parking lot. The ground was cold, and you whimpered and yelped loudly as you felt something sharp penetrate your weak skin, pain shooting from the palm of your hand up your arm, not stopping until you could feel it in your chest too. The glass sunk in as you cried out the tears of all the years of pain and suffering. Your mom comforted you from above, assuring you that everything would be alright, as you screamed as loud as your lungs could manage “Why does this happen?! How can the world be so cruel?!”

She hoisted you up from the pavement, wrapping her arms around your midsection and pulling you up into a bridal style carry and brought you towards the car. You looked back once again towards the office, your mind telling you to kick and scream, to call out, but your body protested. You opened your mouth as if to scream, but nothing would escape, not even the tiniest of sounds. The seat of the car burned against your skin at the slightest touch as your mom set you down carefully in the vehicle. You traced her very slow and cautious movements with your watery eyes as she walked to the front seat, starting the engine with a jolt and throwing the car gingerly into gear. She pulled away from the building slowly, yet also quickly. Although she had told you not to, you looked back through the rear windshield, watching with tear stained eyes as the building faded from your view, never to be seen again.

_You need to let go..._

As you walked away from the building, you resisted the urge to look back, keeping your head down on the dirtied sidewalk, but you failed as you glanced up from beneath the canopy covering the front doors, and your balance faltered as you saw some other scantily clad woman being thrust into your chair, replacing you within seconds of you walking from the doors. You let out a small whimper as you watch, which attracts the attention of one of the doormen, but he turns away as he locks eye contact with you. You frown even deeper, tears free falling over your cheekbones, and of course, ruining your makeup in the process. You sigh, taking one last glance before taking a step out of the covered office front.

“I guess things could be worse. Maybe.” You think, scuffing your heels along the ground.

Suddenly, there’s a crack of thunder, making you jump once, before rain begins pouring down all around you. Some people squeal, some people laugh, and others groan aloud, clearly expressing their displeasure with the environment. You groan loudly, one reason being that you were already having a pretty shitty day and this was making it worse, but another reason was that you didn’t have an umbrella, and the walk back to your apartment was six blocks.

“Fuck.” You say, voice cracking as you’re on the verge of tears. You swipe your matted down hair away from your face roughly with your hand, grunting once before stomping off towards your apartment. The rain began to fall harder, the heavy droplets striking the ground in a swift movement before flowing downhill, off to who knows where. Your make up was strewn all across your face, you had tried to wipe it off, but had discovered that it had only made it look worse, so fuck it. You walked home with your gaze on the ground, never looking up unless you got to a stop light. You could feel the stares from other people boring into your skull, the judgements burning each and every hair on your head. It went on and on, never seeming to end, as you trudged along the streets of New York City, homebound. You glanced down at your phone to check the time, smiling slightly as you looked at your background that expressed your boyfriends wonderful face on it, and sighed. Speaking of, he worked in less than 20 minutes, which meant that he probably wasn’t going to be home. Great.

You continued down the busy New York sidewalk, intent on reaching home, never stopping unless absolutely necessary. As you trudged along the soaked concrete, people passed by you, black umbrellas like a sea that never failed to keep moving. They kept dry, a droplet never touching them, their clothes as dry as their stone cold faces and corporate personalities. New York wasn’t a place for the kind at heart- everyone had a place to be and knew when they wanted to be there. Nothing stood in the way. Although, if you dared to try, they pushed by you, their caring nonexistent in the process.

Glancing up, your reddened eyes are met with the front door of your tiny apartment building, a small blueish green tinted door with a faded golden handle. The door itself looked sketchy, it being jammed between two storefronts which left only the smallest of walk spaces to enter the door. The door alone couldn’t even open all the way, due to the size of the aforementioned walkway, and the surface adorned scratches from the stucco surrounding it. You stepped forward, going up the two cracking concrete steps and reached for the faded door handle, all before yanking it open roughly. You heard the door collide with the stucco as you stepped inside, but it was only there for a moment before you slammed it shut behind you.

“Stupid fucking thing, doesn’t even close by itself…” You mutter under your breath as you begin to strip off your soaked jacket, looking around the “lobby” of the building as you did so. It was nothing extravagant, nor really anything that could be considered a lobby of any kind. It was a narrow hallway, fitted with worn down carpet from all the footsteps of wear and tear over the years, as well as drab wallpaper, which had probably been re-glued down at least a dozen times since the building was first built. Lining the small walls before the small spiral metal staircase sat mailboxes, adorned with small golden numbers in order to indicate what number door the mail belonged to. There were only four mailboxes, two on each side of the wall- 1 and 3 on one, 2 and 4 on the other. You quickly reached for the box marked 4 as you yanked out your key, only to find that upon turning the key, there was nothing in the box.

“Wait what?” You asked yourself, sticking a hand in the box for confirmation. “The mailman always comes before now according to Ray, where the fuck is it?”

You use your hand to feel all around the inside of the seemingly empty box once more, only to huff out a breath before slamming the thing closed and starting up the spiralling stairs. You heard the squish of water beneath your soaked feet with every step, as well as felt the slipping and sliding of your feet as you ascended. As you reached the third floor, where apartments four and three were located, you mumbled out a quiet “fucking finally” as you reached for the door handle, placing your hand on the handle before going to reach into your bag to fish out the keys. Though, to your own surprise (and misfortune), the door was already unlocked, so when you leaned all of your weight against it, it flung open, sending you cascading towards the carpeted but still hard floor inside your apartment.

“Fuck! What the hell!” You yell out as you use your arms to prop yourself up, looking around with furious eyes to scour for a reason as to why the door was open. You could feel the pain radiating from one of your feet from how your ankle had twisted from the heeled shoe while you fell. The throbbing was intense, but you ignored it through clenched teeth for the time being, at least until you found what you were searching for.

“What the hell was-(y/n)?” You hear from the kitchen next to your spot in the floor. You tilt your head to look over to your left, your eyes eventually meeting with a very concerned and confused Ray, who was holding some assorted snacks he’d grabbed out of the pantry a few moments before your extravagant entrance. He had one eyebrow cocked, mouth open in confusion. You smile slightly, feeling some heat rise towards your cold cheeks.

“Oh, uh, hey.” You say, waving your hand once in a small friendly but nervous gesture. His facial expression didn’t change, but he set down his snacks and extended a hand out towards you. As you took it, you felt more heat rise towards your cheeks, turning them at least three shades darker than they had been previously. At least it was cold out, you could blame the cold for your newly found redness on your face. He helped you stand, only to watch you nearly fall over once again after putting weight on your pained foot. He helped you towards the couch, setting you down slowly before going back to retrieve his snacks. Pulling out a bar stool, he sat down near the bar counter you had that faced out toward the living room from the kitchen, and began to dive into eating his snacks.

“That was quite an entrance.” He says jokingly, attempting to stifle a laugh as he chews on his snack bar.

You roll your eyes once before reaching down to yank off your shoes. As you rip the left one off, you look over at the right one, which had now began to swell to the point in which you couldn’t get the strap off. “Fuck me.” You mutter under your breath as you stare menacingly at the shoe.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Poke your fun as much as you want, Ray. Can you hand me some scissors from the jar?”

You watch him reach across the counter and grasp some scissors from a large supply jar, taking another bite of his snack bar before chucking the scissors lightly onto the seat next to you. You grunt out a thanks before reaching down to begin sawing at the strap.

“Anyway, jokes aside, what are you doing home? You’ve only been at work for like,” He pauses, looking down at his phone before speaking again, “two hours.”

You suck in a sharp breath as the strap gives, sending a rush of previously trapped blood toward your foot. You toss the scissors onto the coffee table and chuck the shoe across the room and down the hall, wincing as you hear the very audible sound as it collided with the wall. You cleared your throat before trying to talk, but failed as the tears that you had been holding back came cascading down your makeup covered cheeks once again.

“I got fired.” You choke out quietly, tears sliding from your eyes down your cheeks and splattering down on your legs. Ray coughs once, dropping his snack before looking over at you wide eyed.

“What? Why?!”

“Because I asked for a fucking raise, okay? I should’ve known better than to ask, because now we have to rely on your gamestop money in order to save up for an actual house and-”

“Yeah,” He says, pausing before nervously wiping his hand along the back of his neck, “about that…”

“What?” You sniffle, trying to slow your heart rate as well as your tears.

“I uh,” another pause, “I quit.”

You turn your head quickly, looking at him as he runs his hand through his hair and smiles at you nervously. He opens his mouth to speak, but you stop him with your hand before he can.

“Why.” You demand, forgoing the niceties for fact. You were never one to be mean when something happened to change your plans, but this was a bigger deal than anything else had been.

“Well,” nervous swallow, “the new manager was kind of an asshole. Normally I’d just put up with it, but he was giving me less hours so what’s the point in working if I can’t get paid what I deserve? We wouldn’t be able to buy a house around New York with that money anyway.”

The silence between the two of you was tense, the air quickly becoming stale before you spoke, your voice extremely quiet and emotionless.

“What’re we going to do?”

“I guess I could finally ask Geoff about paying me for the guides I’ve been doing. It’s not in my contract, but I don’t know anywhere I can get a job to make any kind of decent money that’ll hire me. I don’t have a degree.”

“I guess. Only as long as we can stay living here. You know how I feel about leaving New York, we’ve discussed this easily ten times prior.”

Ray sighs, wiping his face with both of his hands quickly before swallowing.

“Yeah, I got it. I’ll talk to Geoff later.”

You let out a breath, wincing as you move to stand from the couch. Ray’s face shows concern briefly, but you wave it off with a loose hand as you limp off towards your shared bedroom, in seek of some much needed sleep. Thoughts ran rampant through your stressed brain, only to be silenced moments later as sleep overtook you.

\---------------------------------------

You awaken from your slumber slowly, rolling over carefully in order to avoid hurting your foot by moving too quickly. You felt a wet ziploc bag roll off of your ankle and onto the ground as you moved, panicking slightly before realizing that it was a melted ice pack. You swing your legs carefully over the edge of the bed, smiling when they touch the soft carpet beneath them, and you delicately curl your toes into the soft surface.

You were about to reach for your phone to check the time when you hear something coming from the living room, automatically grabbing your attention instead.

“No, I’m serious.” You hear Ray’s voice mumble, unsure of the topic he was speaking of.

“No, I really can’t. Seriously, Geoff,” So it was Geoff he was talking to, that made sense, “I need money now, and this is really my only option.”

Standing up slowly, you walk carefully over to the door, smiling when you realize that your foot was now being much more compliant to walking, and you gingerly place your ear against it’s wooden surface.

“Normally I wouldn’t ask, but it’s a big fucking deal. Look, my girlfriend just lost her job too, and she’s already upset enough about money, and having to take money out of her house savings account would just break her heart even more.”

Silence.

A sigh.

“Okay, yeah, that works.” It had been of relief.

“Uh huh. This means a shit ton, you have no idea.”

Pause again.

“Mhmm. Yeah, okay, bye Geoff. I’ll get back to you.”

You hear the sound of Ray locking his phone by turning it off, and you hear his relieved sigh on the other side of the door. You smile slightly, thinking that Ray was happy with the conversation with Geoff, but you were still uncertain. What if it hadn’t worked out?

Your thoughts were immediately interrupted as you heard footsteps gliding across the carpeted floor of the hallway, which paused to gather up your ruined and mangled shoe from earlier on in the day, then continued back towards the bedroom. You take a sharp intake of breath, running as quietly as you can back to the bed, throwing the covers back over you and forcing your eyes shut before you hear the door creak open. You stir your legs slightly in order to indicate that you were in fact mostly awake, and you let out a grunt of approval when you feel a gentle hand running through your hair.

“Hey,” He says quietly as you turn to look at him, “How’re you feeling?”

Using your elbows, you sit up, leaning against the back of the headboard on the bed.

“Better. My foot doesn’t hurt as much anymore.”

He smiles, his teeth barely showing through his lips as he does.

“Good! Hey, how about we go out for dinner? We can go someplace nice, like that steak house a block from here. We’ll even take a cab.”

“Uh, Ray, that’s not what people do when they just got fired. They don’t go out to spend extravagant amounts of money afterwards.”

“Well, this dinner is important, so let’s go.” He says, grabbing your wrist and dragging you out of bed.

“All dinners are important. There’s food involved. You know I love food.” You say as you stand up onto your feet, starting to trudge over to your closet to pick out something nice to wear, not having enough energy or will to fight going to the steak house.

“Of course I do. Who dates for almost two years without knowing all the little details about someone?” He asks as he reaches in front of you to grab out a nice button down (that he hated wearing) and walking around you to grab some shoes. You settle on a nice dress that you had bought for work, a dark green semi formal dress that Ray had never seen you wear before. You grab for some flats with your toes as you put the dress on, deciding to forego heels before another incident conspired.

After nearly ten minutes of just trying to convince yourself that you look okay in the dress, you walk out of the bathroom, slamming the light switch into an off position as you do so. You walk out of the bedroom door quietly, trying to not make too much noise, but you fail as you find yourself laughing about the sight of Ray attempting to get his shoes on.

“What’re you laughing about, huh (y/n)?” Ray asks, never looking up from his shoe that never moved past being halfway on his foot. His voice was strained as he attempted to force his foot inside of the formal shoe, but only succeeded in making his foot hurt and his thumb throb.

“Just give up, Ray.” You say, trying to suppress a giggle, but failing as it comes out in between words. He grunts in response, grabbing the shoe roughly off of the ground only to throw it at the wall opposite from him. You laugh again, finding an intense amusement in his childish pout he now had on his face.

“What shoes am I supposed to wear now? Those are the only formal shoes I have, and clearly they don’t fit.”

“Just wear your Vans. We both know that’s what you want to wear anyway.”

“But they aren’t formal.”

“Who the fuck cares? I’m wearing nothing extravagant either, so we’ll just match in that way. It’s not like anyone will judge us for our footwear, and if they do, that just means I’ll think that they’re weird because why are they staring at our feet? There’s so much more to look at. Creepy.”

He shrugs, walking over to the door and slipping on his checkered Vans before opening the door to allow you to walk through. You smile and whisper a quiet ‘thank you’ before passing through, waiting until he was next to you to reach out and grab his hand before walking down the stairs and to the “lobby”.

The walk there is quiet and oddly tense, yet peaceful at the same time. Luckily, within the hours you had been asleep the rain had stopped. Though, judging by the sopping wet ground beneath you that squished with every step, you could tell that it had rained hard. Even though it was wet, it left the air cool and crisp, a nice change for going into winter. It was bone chilling cold, but just enough to leave goosebumps around your arms. Ray had noticed on the way to the restaurant, and despite your constant (yet half assed) protests, he had lent you his hoodie, draping it over your bare shoulders, providing the extra warmth your body needed. Once you had stepped inside the restaurant you had been shocked by the warmth and darkness of the place, but were still pleased all the same. The lights were dim but not too dim, and the room was warm but not too warm. Perfection.

As a hostess showed the two of you to your table, which had been a table in the middle of the entire fairly busy restaurant, you surveyed your surroundings once more. The deep red table cloth was appealing to your eyes, and the floral white center piece tied everything together. The candles emitted off little to no light compared to the overhead chandeliers scattered aimlessly throughout the dining room, but it still made for the table to be an appealing and formal setting nonetheless. Ray had pulled out your chair for you, and as you sat, a beautiful red rose was set down in front of you by a handsome man with a basket full of the fullest, prettiest red roses you had ever laid your eyes upon. After a few seconds of clothing adjustments, Ray sat down across from you, opening his menu quietly.

You did the same, flipping the large, heavy, hardcover menu open slowly, your eyes widening as you skimmed the prices of even the smallest of things. Across from you, Ray sat, eyes in his menu intently, but for some reason you could feel tension, as if there was something that needed to be said.

After many dragging moments of the same tense silence, a waitress, who’s brunette curls shaped her face and amplified her beauty, took the tables drink orders, and scurried away to fetch the beverages.

You cleared your throat as they were set down in front of you seconds later, saying a brisk thank you before watching her scurry back off in the direction of another table.

“Hey Ray?” You ask hesitantly, your fingers mindlessly and nervously twisting your rose between your fingertips. He looks up from the menu which was still in his hands, while yours had been closed and set aside many moments ago.

“Hmm?”

“Is everything okay? You seem...tense? No, nervous. Wait, shit, no...anxious! I think that’s it…” You say, voice trailing off as you list all the possible words off in your mind. Across from you he smiles nervously, chuckling once before reaching for his jacket on the back of his chair.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. There is a little something on my mind, and I was going to wait to tell you until we had food, but I guess I might as well just tell you now.”

You watch in confusion as he pulls out a white envelope with golden bordering, your name written carefully in beautiful calligraphy on the front, and places it in front of you, right on top of your bread plate, which, due to the tense atmosphere, had gone unused the entirety of the evening.

“What’s this?” You ask, still confused and a slight bit nervous. He smiles at you, his white teeth beaming from the excitement he was feeling.

“Open it and see.”

You remove your now shaky hands from your rose, setting it carefully down onto the soft tablecloth before moving them to gently caress the envelope before flipping it over in order to rip it open. It took little to no effort at all to open, and with great anxiety you dumped out the contents into your hands.

There were three papers in your hands, one full sized letter page, which had been folded up into thirds and placed gently into the envelope, and two pages about the size of airport boarding passes. They were both blank, you looking at the backside of them. You started with the large page first, skimming over the words that were carefully typed on them. After starting to read, you had already gathered that this writing wasn’t Ray’s writing, but rather someone elses. Across from you, Ray sat in complete silence, waiting for you to finish reading.

_Dear (y/n),_

_I am writing on the behalf of both Rooster Teeth Productions as well as Achievement Hunter, and I’m excited to share this information with you!_

_If you’re reading this, (which I hope you are because I’m taking time out of my day to write this especially for you and that requires effort) then that means that both Ray and Burnie, as well as myself have come to an agreement in terms of Ray working for us. We are really excited to have him on board, and we’d really love your support down here in Austin within the next few days. We as a family embrace all other families of our employees, and we’d love to get to know you! Ray talks about you non stop, it’s fucking insane._

_You’d be very loved here, and I’m sure you’ll settle into Austin very well._

_Now, try not to strangle Ray with happiness when you’re finished reading this, because we still need him to come work here._

_I guess I should say congratulations?_

_Geoff Ramsey, Achievement Hunter Executive_

You skim over the letter once more, looking for clarification to the questions running at a million miles per hour inside your head. After two straight minutes of staring holes into the paper, you pick up the other two papers with shaky hands, reading them closely. They were in fact boarding passes, scheduled for a flight the next day to Austin. You read them over and over, your heart rising in your chest, only to fall again when seeing Ray’s elated expression.

“I got the job!” Ray says happily, looking at you with pure joy and excitement. “I couldn’t make anything work without us having to transfer to Austin, but I’m sure you’ll love it there even more than you love here, it’ll be great…” His voice trailed off as he looked at you. You had tears welling up in your eyes and your lip was quivering, expression solemn.

“Ray…” You start, your voice wavering as you speak, “You heard what I said the first time we talked about this.”

“Yeah, I know, but I really think you’ll love Austin and-”

“Ray, it doesn’t matter. I don’t want to leave, and that’s that. I really thought that the eleven different times we’ve argued about this had shown you that I mean it when I say that I don’t want to leave.” Your expression remains serious, tears pooling on your bottom eyelids and your voice cracking at every chance.

“But...it’s for me. That has to mean something, right? It’s been nearly two and a half years, (y/n), you aren’t just going to throw that away, are you..?” He asks, his voice quivering towards the end. You look at him, eyes deeply saddened.

“I…” Quiver. “I just can’t.”

He looks down at the menu in his lap, forcing his eyes shut for a few seconds before looking back up at you. Some people sat around you had been looking, undoubtedly gossiping among themselves about the young and naive couple near them.

“Ray, I’m so sorry. But…” Pause. “You should leave. I don’t want to go...but you still should. I don’t want to hold you back, Ray. You don’t need anything tying you down.” You say, pushing your chair back slowly with the back of your legs as you stand up, turning around to look at the door. You feel a hand grasp at your wrist, holding you gently.

“We can try to make this work! Please, (y/n). Please.” His voice cracked as a single tear streamed down his left cheek. The tears then spilled from your eyes as well, all traveling down your face only to land onto the floor, invisible to your eye. You look down momentarily, gathering your breath before looking back up, heart breaking over and over.

“Ray…” Silence.

“You need to let go.”

With that, you allow your wrist to slowly slip out of his grip as you begin to walk away, keeping your head down to hide your tear stained face from all of those who looked at you. You kept it down, twirling your rose which you had grabbed off of the table until you were out the door. Once out there, you walked along the seemingly unbusy street towards the apartment, off to grab your stuff that had been there for nearly a year now. As you walked, you fought back sobs in your throat, trying to swallow them down in gasps.

You let yourself into the building, reaching for an empty duffle on the floor that you had gotten awhile back, going into the bedroom to gather your clothes and throw them messily into the sack. Sobs emitted from your throat, you unable to control them any longer. Tears dampened your clothes as you transferred them, but you didn’t care. You felt numb, unable to feel anything except for this sharp pain in your chest.

You didn’t know where you’d go or what you’d do, but you did know one thing.

Fuck, you’d miss him.

Grabbing your bag off of the couch, you walked out the door, shutting it slowly and quietly before turning around, taking in the sight of the old beaten to hell door one last time.

You knew you had to leave, but you didn’t want to. You couldn’t bring yourself to do it.

You walked towards the stairs, your feet feeling like they weighed the weight of a thousand tons. Stopping at the top of the stairs, you looked back over your shoulder for one last glimpse. You sighed as you looked on, only briefly before turning around to walk away.

_You need to let go._

\---------------------------------------

_“Ray, you’re such a bloody cheater!”_

_“Yeah, Gavin, totally. Thanks asshole. It’s not my fault you suck.”_

You scoff, your throat constricted and your vision blurred from the tears that never stopped falling. You had the newest let’s play open from the men, a minecraft one.

Honestly, you had no idea why you were watching it.

You flipped from the video to your email, clicking hesitantly on one certain email.

It was from Ray.

_(Y/N),_

_I figured I’d be nice and write a letter, because you honestly deserve something._

_First off, it’s been fun in Austin. I’ve got an awesome new apartment that’s conveniently right in front of the office, so I can just jump the fence to commute. It’s kind of awesome._

_I’d be lying if I said that it wasn’t hard. I miss coming home and seeing you every day. I miss the lazy days, and I miss the nights. Fuck, I miss everything. But that’s not the point._

_I don’t even think I care what the point is anymore, I lost my train of thought. Again._

_Second, happy birthday. 24, shit thats a big number. You probably still look young as ever though, with beauty that burns bright._

_Fuck, this is hard for me._

_Well, normally I’d say more, but I’m at a loss for words. I knew what I wanted to say before I sat down to write this, but for some reason it’s just...gone now._

_I gotta go._

_Take care of yourself,_

_-Ray_

The tears fall harder, and the video comes back into your ears to where you can hear it’s audio contents again.

You choke out one sob before gently shutting the lid to your laptop.

_Let’s Stop!_

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so sorry about the feels, but I felt like writing that for some reason. Not sure if it's been done of not, but eh. Whatever.
> 
> If you follow me or track the things I post because of my writing, HERE are some things to be looking for over the next month or so! I may not get to posting them quickly due to my new job that I got, but I'll try my best. I've been very excited to announce these lately, and It'll be a blast to get ti write them:  
> ~A new LONG chapter Ryan x Reader fic  
> ~Epilogue to Little Obsessions  
> ~A new Bolder Behind the Screen (hopefully tomorrow)  
> ANNNNNNND  
> ~Surprise! A HUGE RvB reader insert fic! I won't release pairings now, but stay tuned.
> 
> So yeah, that's about it for me right now.  
> Thanks for reading!


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